Faction Friday: The Fellows of the Forge

RPG faction

Taking inspiration from the classes in the recently released Xanathar's Guide to Everything for this week's faction, today we come to the cleric. While the Grave Domain has some juicy options, I'm more drawn to the Forge Domain.

Kovalla, the Forge of the Gods. One hundred years ago, a small group of clerics climbed up the fiery slopes of the volcano Kova, rebuilt an old stone monastery there, and re-consecrated it to their god. Soon, new trails of smoke began to wind into the sky from the temple's roof.

Half a dozen quiet clerics (mostly dwarves) made Kovalla a remote retreat where they could study the fabrication of magical items. As time went on, their membership grew, and Kovalla expanded from a single large building into a complex that now houses nearly fifty hard-working souls.

Durnir's Forge by Durnir on DeviantArt

As their skill grew, so did the clerics' reputation. This created a problem for the reclusive researchers, as increasing numbers of adventurers and nobles appeared at the massive, curved iron doors of Kovalla seeking to buy the fruits of their study.

Eventually, the clerics established the Fellows of the Forge, a hand-picked group of six individuals who act as liaisons for the Kovallans in the wider world. Each wears a gold necklace on which hangs a gold medallion embossed with the symbol of a glowing forge; anyone who wears this speaks on behalf of the Kovallan Clerics. These six men and women are known as the Fellows of the Forge.

As a friendly faction, the Fellows accept audiences with adventurers and nobles who want Kovallan magical items. The Fellow will set the supplicant with an appropriate task in the name of the clerics' god, and rewards the supplicant upon completion with an appropriate item. Increased specificity on the part of the supplicant decreases the chances that the Fellow will co-operate. The Fellows are not a custom magical item manufacturing facility, but if someone wants a sword rather than a flute, that can be arranged.

As a foe faction, the Fellows have grown rich and greedy. They use their relative power to gain power over the weak, and each secretly belongs to a particularly unpleasant cult or organization that feeds their basest desires. The half-dozen largest cities nearest the volcano of Kova each contain a member of the Fellows of the Forge, and every well-connected merchant or noble knows where their city's Fellow spends his or her time.

Play these Fellows like Jabba the Hutt; entitled and proud of it.

Plot hooks:

  • (Friend) The PCs are approached by a noble woman who seeks a Kovallan amulet that removes curses, to heal a curse laid on her sister. She approached a Fellow, who tasked her with recovering an artifact (a glowing spear) that is said to lie at the bottom of a mine. She hires the PCs to help her find it, and if successful, the Fellow will offer one quest to the PCs.
  • (Foe) After recovering an artifact from a dungeon near a major city, the PCs find themselves targeted by assassins. Upon investigating, they discover that a Fellow of the Forge had her eye on that artifact and wants it herself.
  • (Either) During a fight in a dungeon, another adventuring party arrives and helps defeat the monsters. They explain that they're seeking one of several artifacts that lie the bottom of the dungeon, and will gladly work for nothing in return for that artifact (a silver circlet). This is their task for a Fellow of the Forge, in return for a ring of invisibility.

View the artwork for this faction here

Next Post Previous Post